The end. Or, finishing your book.

There are few things in life better than the pleasure of finishing a first draft. In fact, today I can't really think of something better.  This is, of course, because I finished the first draft of my third book--the sequel to Nine Rules to Break When Romancing A Rake--last night.

Just to put it into perspective, here are nine things that finishing your first draft is better than:

1. Finding a $20 bill in your coat when you weren't expecting it.
2. A kick in the pants.
3. A great new haircut.
4. Friday afternoons.
5. Clamcakes and chowder at the beach (and I'm a New Englander.  So that's no joke.).
6. Christmas morning.
7. An Ocean's 11, 12 and 13 marathon...in the theater.
8. Chocolate.

and, by a nose:

9. The tasting menu at Craft. (Tom Colicchio not included.  Obviously, I would have to reclassify if he were.)

For me this is particularly true because, honestly? I still get incredibly doubtful about whether or not my books will actually get finished when I'm writing.  Seriously.  I'll be 300 pages in and think...is this even a thing? But then I come out on the other side...and OMG.  It's a thing. And I actually like it. And I get giddy. And I do a little dance and have a glass of wine and watch West Wing for three hours.

So...yeah...that's nice.

And, of course, I know I am not even close to being done with this book.  Because now comes the part where I hand it over to my ridiculously-brilliant-editor-who-happens-to-see-things-in-my-manuscripts-that-I-would-never-have-seen-had-i-had-an-ice-age-to-find-them and I will say, "These are all the words I know. And this is the order in which I know to use them." And she will say, "Push yourself. I will help."

And I will. And she will. And revisions will happen (another blog post for another day).

And the book you read in the fall will be infinitely better than the book I have today.

And that, too, will feel great.

But it still won't feel as good as finishing the first draft.

xox

Websites I can't write without...

I'm working on a new project right now...a second book in the NINE RULES series...and today is probably the first day that I've felt like I'm really doing good work on this book.

Let me explain: starting a book is like meeting a new friend. You're excited. You think you just might enjoy the company of this interesting new person. They seem funny and cool. They seem like the type of person you'd like to invite into your house for a rousing game of Rock Band. But you don't *really* know them and, frankly, you're not entirely sure that they won't ultimately go crazy sauce on you when you mention that you don't really like Pat Benatar.

And yet you take the risk and you invite them over.

For the last few weeks, I've been hanging out with my new book. We've played videogames, eaten pizza, watched a few episodes of House...it has agreed that, yes, empirically, Hugh Laurie does have the most beautiful eyes in the whole world. And then, this morning, we realized that OMG we both went through a (somewhat unbearable for those around us) Right Said Fred phase and yes...we both secretly loved Mamma Mia. It's very exciting.

But for me, this new friend comes with all sorts of other stuff. Historical stuff. All sorts of research that I have to nail down before I can really be comfortable with this new friendship and say, have a sleepover. And so, I give you the websites I can't write without.

1. Online Etymology Dictionary - I've talked about this one before, but it bears repeating. It's an awesome free resource for etymological questions: when was a phrase first recorded; what did a word mean in 1823 that, perhaps, means the opposite now (see snob); did a word even exist in 1823 (don't get me started on neckline)?

2. This Awesome Calendar Site - It doesn't have a name. I don't know who made it. But if you want to know what day a holiday fell on...or if you, like me, are simply neurotic and have to know what day the newspaper that arrived in Yorkshire from London might have been published...it's Awesome. With a capital A.

3. The Ancestry.com British Maps Database - Towns in my books are real. Distances matter. If you're going to set a book at a country house 200 miles from London, you'd better know how your characters got there--and how long it took to do it.

4. The Regency Realm - This one isn't free...but it's an incredible annotated bibliography of over 900 historical resources that might come in handy for a Regency author. If you're a member of the Regency chapter of RWA (Beaumonde), it's free with membership. If not, you can purchase it on disk for a fee.

5. The Times of London Archive - Another one that's not free (at least not from the comfort of your own home)...but is worth every single penny. The Times has a searchable digital archive from 1785 to today. Pay for a day pass ($4.95) and spend some time reading the paper from 1820. If that doesn't get the ideas flowing, check your pulse (If you're in NYC, you can do this for free at the 42nd St. branch of the New York Public Library--another reason to hug your nearest librarian).

6. Pandora - This one isn't about writing or research, really. But I've got my Strauss radio station (for waltzing inspiration) and my Ani DiFranco station (for strong, fun heroines) and my Jack Johnson station (for steady, handsome heroes who are just asking to be shaken up)...and sometimes you just need some great music to get the juices flowing. If you're on Pandora, come on over and be my friend.

Ok. I'm getting antsy. I'm going back to hanging out with my new friend. Later, gators.

Those three little words..."Time for Copyedits"

As many of you know, I'm in the midst of copyedits on my first Avon Romance, NINE RULES TO BREAK WHEN ROMANCING A RAKE.

Now, those of you who were with me during copyedits on THE SEASON remember that I don't much like copyedits. Actually, I kind of loathe them. I know there are authors who love every second of CEs, lovingly removing commas or adding hyphens or calmly steting things that they think should be steted. I simply do not understand these authors.

Because I obsess. I have a whole process of obsession, a 12-step program of copyediting neurosis that one day, when I am less of a paranoid author, I will share, and we'll all have a good laugh over the whole thing. But, right now, the wound is too raw, so let's just drop it, shall we?

Now, I should say, my current copyeditor seems lovely. I say this because she has left me darling little notes in the margins that indicate that she does not hate me for using discrete when i mean discreet. Or, at least, if hatred did flare when she saw that, it waned once she read the scene in the modiste's shop. (I like to think she secretly didn't care a whit about discretion and just wanted the hero and heroine to make out, already.)

But she's in a tough spot. Because, lovely as she is, she's the smarty-pants who casually mentions that words and phrases to which I am quite wedded didn't actually exist in the English language in 1823. Which is no fun at all. In fact, it's rather maddening.

Here are three words that I really REALLY wish existed in 1823. Really.

Neckline. 1904.

Fantasize. 1926.

Addictive. 1939.

These are good words. GOOD ONES. I want them back, dammit.

But no, I shall rise to the challenge and persevere, in honor of the good and patient woman who so painstakingly read and reread my dirty manuscript, and I shall find other words that wield similar power.

And I take this moment to publicly acknowledge the awesome that is the copyeditor--the all-too-often unsung heroine of the modern novel. And, to make up for any name-in-vain-taking I have done over the course of these copy edits, I'm going to sponsor a word in my copyeditor's honor in the Online Etymology Dictionary.

Do you think "stet" is too cheeky? Probably. I'm going with "rewrite."

Twists. And why we love them.

Last night, I had a fantastic dinner with the lovely and talented Lisa Ann Sandell. Lisa and I have been friends for ages and, whether it's the author in us or the reader in us, we always end up talking about books (and not always our own)!

After a long and winding discussion last night, we landed on the subject of twists in novels. We chatted for a while about them...and I marveled at the skill it takes for an author to really pull one off. I mean...really really pull one off. Like, gasping for breath, OMG, shock the pants off you kind of twists.

Here's the part where I confess a super-duper respect for mystery authors. There's nothing like a great red herring.

As part of this post, I was going to list the five best twists I've ever read or seen. I wasn't going to explain them...obviously, that would ruin the fun. But...now I'm realizing that maybe the best part of a twist is that there is a twist at all. The ones where you audibly gasp are always the ones you REALLY weren't expecting. Right?

Hmm...ok...so...here's my list... but Beware: TWISTS AHEAD! Highlight at your own risk!

1. Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card (First on the list for a reason)
2. Fight Club - Chuck Palahniuk
3. The Usual Suspects (film)
4. The Game (film)
5. The Others (film)

So...What did I miss?

5 things that are helping me stay focused.

those of you who follow me on twitter and facebook know that i'm in radio silence for the weekend because i'm trying to finish the book by sunday night. this is how it works when i get so close to the end of a book that i can smell it. i hibernate. i go underground and don't look up or come out until it is done. i try to ensure that this happens on a weekend, so i can take friday off from my day job and really power through. this is where i'm at right now. and it hurts. some writers say that the last three chapters of a book feel exhilarating...like all they can imagine doing is running a marathon afterwards. not so with me. the last three chapters of my books feel like what i imagine the last three miles of the new york city marathon feel like. ie...you're doing it because dammit you won't get this far and not finish, but you question your motives, your sanity, and your will to live the entire time. welcome to the end of a book, sarah maclean style.

so...here are the five things that keep me focused during this time:

1. Cranberry Juice. I don't know why, but I go through gallons of the stuff when I'm down to the wire.
2. Beethoven. Specifically, Piano Sonata 23, aka the Appassionata.
3. Baxter. Because warm, fuzzy dogs who love you even when you're gross and cranky are possibly the best thing in the world.
4. My bookshelves. They are full of published books. Most of them were finished successfully.
5. My friends, because they don't call me. And because they won't be mad when I finally call them. Because they will know precisely where I have been.

and...this wouldn't be an honest post if I didn't list the five things I'm depriving myself of because they are too distracting and awesome.

1. The West Wing. Because Aaron Sorkin wrote that show specifically to keep this book from ever being written. He's prescient. Its a little-known fact.
2. Mike Doughty. Because while I usually love listening to him and he did, after all, write Alex's theme song, his music is not always Regency appropriate.
3. Facebook. I should think that would be self-explanatory.
4 Lisa Kleypas and Julia Quinn novels. Because I could read them over and over and I'm just a severe enough procrastinator to do just that.
5. My bed. Because right now, I could seriously take a nap.

and, finally...here are the five things i will do to celebrate the end of my book.

1. do a little dance in my living room.
2. wear my new, custom made, yellow chucks. more on that later. but i'm too superstitious to wear them yet.
3. buy myself a bonnie cashin bag.
4. watch the entire first and second season of The Tudors.
5. play the new Quantum of Solace video game that has been in its shrink wrap SINCE CHRISTMAS because i am a goddess at resisting temptation.

but in order to do those things, i gotta leave you.
peace out, internet.

In which cory doctorow is a smartypants...

On the long list of things I like, Cory Doctorow ranks pretty high. I think he's thoughtful and interesting and the fact that he refers to YA sections of bookstores as "Parallel universes of little-regarded awesomeness" only makes him that much better.

As you know, I've been a bad writer recently (ok, ok, let's refrain from making the obvious snarky retort here...'recently?'...you're very funny), and yesterday Eric found this piece of genius somewhere online...Cory Doctorow: Writing in the Age of Distraction from Locus Magazine, in which the Doctorow shares his tips and tricks for writing on a machine that is basically connected to everyone, everywhere, all the time. Certainly my computer is one of the biggest problems with my work regime...if I can twacespacechatbookmail instead of writing, I will.

Enter CD, and his six techniques to staying "on top of your workload and your muse."

1. Keep a short, regular work schedule
2. Leave yourself a rough edge
3. Don't research
4. Don't be ceremonious
5. Kill your word-processor
6. Realtime communications tools are deadly

I'm intrigued by this list...and have tried to incorporate it into my writing this weekend. Here's what I'm thinking:

1. Of course, the short, regular work schedule is critical. Writing is a skill more than a talent, and practice definitely brings us closer to perfect. Also, I find that if you get out of the habit for even one day, you've got an enormous uphill battle coming when you start again.

2. This is my favorite of his techniques. CD says, "when you hit your daily word-goal, stop. Stop even if you're in the middle of a sentence. Especially if you're in the middle of a sentence." I love this, because the next day, when you start, you don't have to think at all about what to write first. You finish the sentence. A friend who is working on her Ph.D. told me that she refers to this as "Parking on the Down Slope." I call it awesome.

3. I'm struggling with don't research, frankly. I write historical, so the research process is critical. While I definitely see his point that a half-hour researching what kind of pants Regency men wore to the opera is not helping the arc of my story at all, I also know that, for me, I need to have those details in my head to make a scene as rich as possible. I'm gong to try leaving that stuff out and then returning to fill in the research, but I'm not sure it will work for me.

4. I can't agree more with him on Don't Be Ceremonious. I carry a notebook with me and write longhand as much as possible. This means writing on the subway, in line for my morning coffee, waiting for friends in restaurants and on my couch. Write when you find time. It helps with keeping your skills honed.

5. He's basically saying here that you shouldn't be formatting/spellchecking/etc. I get this, and respect his ability to ignore bells and whistles, but the idea of a .txt document scares the bejeezus out of me.

6. Agree. IM is a time suck. As are all the others. I turn off my AirPort when I write. This doesn't mean that the first thing I do when I pause isn't check my email. But it helps not to see the message indicator pop up.

I would add one thing to his list....the thing that works best for me...Write long hand as much as possible. That way, you're not only not distracted, but when you type your words into your computer eventually, you're actually on your second draft...not your first. Also, I feel way less pressure to write something good if I'm scrawling in a notebook.

Ok...thoughts? additions? what's your trick for staying focused on writing in this insanely distracting world?

Meet Jessica Burkhart!

When putting together a list of awesome authors and other fantastic book people to interview on MacLeanSpace...how could I not include uber-amazing, wunderkind Jessica Burkhart, author of the Canterwood Crest series? Leaving aside that we are agent sisters (both represented by the incredible Alyssa Eisner Henkin), we're talking about a woman who has sold 8 -- count them -- 8 books to Simon and Schuster! (Of course, when they include horses, drama, boys, and secrets...is there really any question that you want to read as many of those as you can get your hands on?) The first of the books, Take the Reins, is out this month!

Who says teammates have to be friends?

When Sasha Silver and her horse, Charm, arrive on the campus of the elite Canterwood Crest Academy, Sasha knows that she's in trouble. She's not exactly welcomed with open arms. One group of girls in particular is used to being the best, the brightest, and the prettiest on the team, and when Sasha shows her skills in the arena, the girls' claws come out.

Sasha is determined to prove that she belongs at Canterwood. Will she rise to the occasion and make the advanced riding team by the end of her first semester? Or will the pressure send Sasha packing?

Jess is on the craziest pub schedule I've ever heard of...with one book due every 10 or so weeks (OMG.)...So, needless to say, I was really excited to hear that she was willing to spend some time answering some questions for me! She'll be lurking in comments this week to answer any questions or respond to any comments that you have in comments! So...ask away!

Meet Jessica Burkhart

For those who don't know...you finished your first novel during 2006 NaNoWriMo. Was it a whim that you participated? Or had you always had the idea for CC and just used NaNoWriMo to execute it? What did the manuscript look like on December 1, 2006?

I heard about NaNoWriMo in October 2006 and thought it would be the perfect time to take the chance and see if I could write a novel. I’d freelanced for five years and felt ready for a new challenge. I played around with novel ideas up until a few days before NaNo, but none of them felt right.

The idea that kept coming back to me was a horse novel, but I was afraid to let myself go there. I’d been a serious equestrian for most of my life until back surgery stopped me from riding. I worried that writing about horses would make me miss riding. But I decided to go for it! Writing about horses brought me back to the horse world and I loved it!

On December 1, the manuscript was a Big. Awful. Mess. The timeline was a disaster, too many characters had names that started with K or C and the plot was a jumbled mess. I reminded myself that at least I had a draft and now I could edit. And edit! And edit! :)

A few weeks ago, I pulled out the first draft of Take the Reins and forced myself to look at it. I almost died of embarrassment! :)

Canterwood Crest features a trio of snarky girls who aren't exactly the picture of niceness. Did you grow up with Heather, Alison and Julia? Or are they truly figments of your imagination? If you had to hang out with one of them for an afternoon, who would it be, and why?

Surprisingly enough, I didn’t grow up around a Heather, Julia or Alison. There were always the super-popular girls, but never girls this mean. I got lucky! If Heather, Julia or Alison had been at my school, they would have made fun of me for wearing paddock boots to school. They also would have hated my favorite sweater—one with a giant horse head on it. :) There’s a photo of that somewhere…

I’d love to hang out with Heather. We’d sip hot chocolate, she’d refuse to tell me any juicy Canterwood Crest gossip and I’d hate her but secretly want to be her friend. She’s one of those love-to-hate girls, which makes her envy-worthy.

You're working on an incredibly grueling pub schedule for the Canterwood Crest books (almost a bimonthly release, right?) ...what's the secret to keeping the ideas coming...and quickly?

The pub schedule can be tough and the most important thing for me is emotional support from my close friends. When I’m feeling confident, I’m able to come up with my best ideas. With this schedule, you have to be “on” most of the time. There’s no room to sit back and say, “Well, I just don’t feel like writing today.” I get my best ideas when I stay in work-mode and am absorbed in the Canterwood Crest world. The support from people involved with Canterwood is important because it boosts my morale and helps cut down on the panicked moments when I’m sure I’m the Worse Writer Ever.

What's the one piece of advice you'd give another author looking to get into the middle grade market?

I’d say to be savvy about what kids and tweens like. Spend a little time reading books that are popular with tweens, listen to music that kids and tweens enjoy, flip through Girls’ Life and watch a few new tween-friendly movies. You may never incorporate any of the trends into a novel, but I still think it’s important to know what your audience enjoys.

So many girls (including me) are drawn to horses. What do you think it is that is so attractive about them?

I think many girls love horses because of the unconditional love they offer. Horses are thousand-pound animals that choose to be gentle with us. How amazing is that? Plus, they’re sooo much fun. I loved the adrenaline rush of racing a horse through a field and leaping every obstacle in sight.

And, finally, Jessica Burkhart on...

Fictional Horses:
Black Beauty or Mr. Ed?
Gotta be Black Beauty. Has anyone else seen at least four different movie versions of the book?

Lip Balm:
Cherry Chapstick or Burt's Bees?
Cherry Chapstick! (It WAS popular before Katy Perry…)

Famous Equestrians:
Paul Revere or the Headless Horseman?
Headless Horseman. So. Scary.

Teen Magazines:
Seventeen or Teen Vogue?
Love ‘em both, but I’d have to go with Teen Vogue. The fashion—sigh.

The Triple Crown:
Preakness or Belmont?
Preakness! Big Brown’s win last year was amazing.

----

Thanks so much for coming over to play, Jess!

For everyone else...find Jessica at her website, on Goodreads, on Twitter, and on Facebook. I also think she'd appreciate you pre-ordering Take the Reins on Amazon. That last part is just a hunch, though.

----

Meet someone else here!

On inspiration...part II

As I mentioned yesterday, I'm feeling particularly uninspired this week...partially because of crazed busy-ness (and business) at my day job, partially because I was a terrible procrastinator over the last few weeks, and partially because it's January and isn't everyone just a little bit uninspired in January?

Anyway...I have to snap out of it...and I figured I'd take a moment to tell you about my relationship with Strauss. Yes...that Strauss. Johann Strauss, Jr. The king of the Waltz, composer of dance music--the Madonna of his time. Yes...he looks like a madman, all woofy haired and pork chop sideburns, but he created some of the most incredible dance music in history.

Don't believe me? Try listening to Voices of Spring and you tell me if you aren't struck by a desire to put on a gorgeous dress (or a long-tailed tuxedo) and whirl across a ballroom, arms around some stunning partner. When you write romance, that kind of desire is EXACTLY what you need to get lost in your story...and it is Strauss, and only Strauss, who can put me in that zone. So, I write regency and he wasn't born until 1825...what are a few decades between friends?

I write exclusively to Strauss...hours and hours of his waltzes on endless repeat still haven't gotten old...and he's never let me down. When I'm not able to focus on the words or on the story or on the characters, it's almost always because I don't have my headphones on. And so...while the first strains of the Blue Danube Waltz begin as I write this sentence, I realize I have to go. I have writing to do.

But before I do...I have to ask. What music inspires your writing? And why?

Meet Saundra Mitchell!

As promised, in honor of the new year, I'm starting a series of interviews and Q&As with awesome book people who you should know and love. I'm very very happy to launch the series with the fantastic Saundra Mitchell, author of the soon-to-be-released Shadowed Summer, available in stores February 10th.

Nothing ever happened in Ondine, Louisiana, not even the summer Elijah Landry disappeared.

His mother knew he ascended to heaven, the police believed he ran away, and his girlfriend thought he was murdered.

Decades later, certain she saw his ghost in the town cemetery, fourteen-year-old Iris Rhame is determined to find out the truth behind "The Incident With the Landry Boy."

Enlisting the help of her best friend Collette, and forced to endure the company of Collette's latest crush, Ben, Iris spends a summer digging into the past and stirring old ghosts, in search of a boy she never knew.

What she doesn't realize is that in a town as small as Ondine, every secret is a family secret.

I read Shadowed Summer in one sitting...it is a fantastic story and sets a standard for modern ghost stories that will be hard to match. I adored Iris...her relationships with her friends and family are perfectly executed, her emotional turmoil is thoroughly compelling, and I just wished she'd never end. Saundra Mitchell succeeded in taking this romance novel-obsessed reader and making me care deeply for a ghost story.

Saundra is a fellow 2009 Debutante, and I've been lucky enough to spend some quality time with her there, sucking her brilliant brain dry of information on everything from the movie business (Saundra is a screenwriter by day), to graphic design (she's a whiz with photoshop), to ghosts (which she knows WAY TOO much about).

So, needless to say, I was really excited to get Saundra to share some of her knowledge and experience here with you all... She's answered questions below...and she'll be lurking in comments this week to answer any questions or respond to any comments that you have in comments! So...ask away!

Meet Saundra Mitchell:

There are so many memorable things about Shadowed Summer, Iris, the setting of Rural Louisiana, ghosts, family secrets...did these all come to you at the same time? Or were you struck by one specific anchor?

I think the first line I ever heard in Iris' voice was, "Well that's about dumb, Collette." So Iris showed up first. With her cadence and her accent, and her best friend's name, I knew it was Louisiana.

Everything else came out of planning or happy accident, when I sat down and poked Iris and made her participate in her own story. I had no idea where we were going, or what we would find when we started, so always, the anchor for Shadowed Summer was Iris, her time and place and her friendship with Collette.

You're a screenwriter by day...which is obviously why Shadowed Summer reads so vividly. Do you find that your experience with screenwriting makes writing novels easier, harder, or a different thing entirely?

Some of both. Screenwriting says if I've spent more than 5 minutes in a particular scene, I'm boring people. It's easy for me to get in and get out, which I think is hard for some novelists. I feel confident when it comes to pacing the natural rise and fall of each scene- and natch, I kinda think my dialogue is okay. ;)

But conversely, in screenwriting, I'm not supposed to tell the actors what to do or how to feel. So sometimes, I have a hard time figuring out what my characters should be doing while they talk. (Initially, they nod and look and bob their heads a lot- I change that in revisions.) And my first drafts are mysterious- nobody feels anything in the first draft; that gets added in revisions as well.

SS is set in hot, sticky, rural Louisiana--a place that has inspired many. What do you think it is about Louisiana that makes for such meat fictional food?

Louisiana contains one of the oldest ports in the United States. Everyone knows about the French influence, but even before the French, the Spanish had settled the coastal regions there, mingling with Native Americans, with Caribbean freemen, and then later, African and Caribbean slaves.

There was already a wealth of culture and mythology layered throughout Louisiana by the time the French arrived from France, and the Acadian French arrived from Canada. New Orleans was one of the most cosmopolitan cities in the world- it was literally the gateway through which the south passed- out to the Indies, to Mexico, to Europe, and in to the Mississippi which was *the* major highway of the time period. Through locks, canals and tributaries, you can start at the Mississippi in New Orleans and make your way all the way to Erie, Pennsylvania.

So stir together six or seven disparate families of folklore with heat- which we all know makes us crazy. Blend that with the highly ritualized power of the Roman Catholic church burning incense and holding Mass in Latin. Blend with a constant flow of strangers, in and out. And sit it all on top of unusual geography- earth so saturated with water that it won't even contain the dead; bayous filled with almost mythical creatures and unfathomable lights- and I don't see how an author can avoid writing about Louisiana, at least once in her lifetime!

You've written a heckuva ghost story, and your blog is a haven for ghost lovers. Have you always known that paranormal was the genre you could make sing?

I like weird stuff and I cannot lie/I dig the freaky and I can't deny... Uh, sorry. I had a Mix-A-Lot moment. Won't happen again.

I've always loved ghost stories. I've always loved the supernatural, and horror, and dark fantasy. I dig gentle horror- which is what I would call Twilight, for example. It has all the horror elements without necessarily being scary.

And I love screaming horror, which is what you get when you foolishly read Stephen King's Pet Semetary on your very first babysitting job ever. (I don't recommend it.) I met my husband on an online group for vampire fans!

But the thing is, what appeals to me about horror, the paranormal, the supernatural- is how they inform the natural, and the ordinary, and the human. I'm not real big into splatterpunk or gorecore because the wounding doesn't interest me- I want to know about people.

I want to know how they face the unknown, how they grapple with themselves and the monstrous parts of themselves. I want to explore the ways we are open, and the ways we are closed, and what it means to have a mind that might not go on after our bodies. Or what it means if we do...

And I think it's boring to just set out to explore those explicitly. Straightforwardly. So for me, it's always going to be the paranormal, the supernatural, the horror- sometimes I think who we are when we're afraid is who we're truly meant to be.

What's next for you?

Well, right now, I'm fixing to go finish baking some monkey bread that started life as elephant ears, but wouldn't fry proper. You want some?

Uhm...yeah. I want some.

And, finally, Saundra Mitchell on...

The Masters of Horror:
Stephen King or Edgar Allen Poe?
Poe!

Ghosts:
Casper or Jacob Marley?
Marley!

Louisiana Musicians:
The Neville Brothers or Harry Connick, Jr.?
The Neville Brothers! (My best friend is going to kill me.)

Carbonated Beverages:
RC Cola or Coca Cola?
Cocola!

Bayou Food:
Crawfish Etouffe or Powdered Sugar Beignets?
Beignets!

Sleepover Ghost Games:
"Bloody Mary in the Bathroom Mirror" or "Light as a feather, stiff as a board"?
Light as a feather, stiff as a board.

---

Thanks so much for coming over to play, Saundra! Congrats on the debut!

For everyone else...find Saundra at her website, on Goodreads, on Twitter, and on Facebook. I also think she'd appreciate you pre-ordering Shadowed Summer on Amazon. That last part is just a hunch, though.

Get Happy

In this week's Publisher's Weekly, Richard O'Connor writes the Soapbox essay...Get Happy: How authors can stay positive through the publishing process. It resonated with me for a few reasons...mostly because my second and third books went out to editors, quite literally, today...and the nerves doubt panic that comes with the submission process is sort of consuming me.

"Write well, and be proud of that, no matter what. Chances are your book won't sell as much as you want it to, but don't let that ruin your life."

Word.

tea. the foundation of civilization.

i'm struggling.  procrastinating.  maybe i'm just out of practice.  but when you write about the regency, tea is where it's at.  this photo all of a sudden gave me hope.  hope that i can do this again.  that the first time was not a fluke.  that i can sell this book.  and it can be a success.  odd, isn't it, how a photograph can do that?  how a cup of tea, served with precision and ceremony, can overcome all that self-doubt that consumes authors?

give me a few hours, internet.  and i will give you a love story for the ages.  or, i will at least try. 

Quote of the Day

I have always imagined that Paradise will be a kind of library.
~Jorge Luis Borges

mike doughty reminds me why i love writing...

I'm cleaning the house, so I can't really sit and chat, but I was inspired to write a quick blog post.   I have this issue with music.  While some people have music playing in the background at all times, I can't listen to it unless I'm doing something mindless, like cleaning the house...and this is because, as eric puts it, I don't actually listen to music.  I listen to lyrics. 

This is also why I tend to listen to the same collection of albums over and over...only when a song's lyrics are committed to my memory is it added to my "top rated" list, which is always played at ear-splitting, baxter-fleeing decibels while I clean/workout/chill.  Today, my album of choice is Mike Doughty's Golden Delicious.  Now, not to sound like an obnoxious music lover, but I've been a Mike Doughty fan since he was the genius behind Soul Coughing.  Soft Serve is one of my favorite songs of all time.  Long story short, he kicked several addictions and turned into what eric refers to as "the kind of music my mom would listen to." But to this I say, Mike Doughty has become a poet.  And this is ok by me.  Because, as with Ani Difranco, Fiona Apple and other songwriters whom I deeply respect, he reminds me why I can't imagine being anything other than a writer. 

Case in point: 

In his I Wrote a Song about Your Car, he asks: Will you be my friend?  Or will you be a friend of mine? 

Such a loaded question...such a perfect example of how words, in the wrong order, are weighted so very differently, have such a vastly different meaning. 

And, as your cookie for reading all the way to the end, here's a video of the man himself playing an acoustic version of this song in what I can only imagine is his living room.  enjoy!

My Extravagant Purchase

So...I'm working on a new project. I'm about 40 pages and a full, detailed outline in...and I'm struggling. I don't even really want to talk about it because I'm at this horrible superstitious point where I feel like I could seriously curse myself and then all this work (and an idea I really love) could be up the creek without the proverbial paddle.

This weekend, the artist blamed her tools. Clearly, the reason why my new project is struggling is because my computer was sub par. Right? Well, that's what I thought. So I trotted off to the Apple Store in SoHo and was the only person on the planet who bought an Apple product other than the iPhone. I met a lovely young man genius who sold me a fancy pants MacBook. Which is uber fast and uber shiny and oh-so-heavenly. Of course, Eric has been booting and loading and organizing since I bought it, so I haven't actually got my hands on it with the exception of the 15 minutes I was awake this morning before him and I checked email and weather...but wow! so fast!

I'm feeling really really good about this--THIS is the computer that's going to get the creative juices flowing. THIS computer is so great--it almost makes me believe it could write my book for me. But I guess Steve Jobs hasn't cornered that market.

Yet.

jacket copy...and more!

The last two weeks have been really really exciting...mostly due to the AMAZING work of my fantastic editor...I keep turning to Eric and saying "it's really happening!!" (He's getting tired of smiling at me supportively, I think.)

I got my first round of edits back, which means i'm back to work in a big way...I was TERRIFIED that the book would come back filled with red ink and pushed back to 2010. But Lisa (my editor) has assured me that it's not a turd...and that it's officially on the March 2009 list! Yay! It's really happening!! (Are you getting tired of hearing me say this too?) :)

In other news on The Season, Lisa and I took a first pass on the jacket copy for the book...which is super exciting (and ridiculously difficult...after spending a year with this story, boiling it down to two paragraphs is a task of sisyphean proportions). Here's what we came up with! What do you think?

Seventeen year old Lady Alexandra Stafford simply doesn't fit into the world of Regency London — she's strong-willed, sharp-tongued, and she absolutely loathes dress fittings. Unfortunately, her mother has been waiting for years for Alex to be old enough to take part in the social whirlwind of a London Season so she can be married off to someone safe, respectable, wealthy, and almost certainly boring.

Alex, however, is much more interested in adventure than in romance. When the Earl of Blackmoor is killed in a puzzling accident, Alex--along with her two best friends, Ella and Vivi--decides to help his son, the brooding and devilishly handsome Gavin, uncover the truth. It's a mystery brimming with espionage, murder, and suspicion. As Alex and Gavin grow closer, will her heart be stolen in the process?

Romance and intrigue fill the air as this year's season begins!

Orchard has already hired an artist for the cover, and I saw pics of potential models this week...it's so weird to see my characters in real life! I can't believe it! SO EXCITING!

Yay!

I'm really excited to finish the edits on The Season, because I finished my outline for book two in the series. It's a really different type of love story than The Season, but also filled with danger and excitement...so I'm looking forward to sinking my teeth into it!

Today, though, I'm off to do laundry...which is much less exciting than all this book stuff...but does give me a chance to catch up with some of my friends who have been woefully neglected while I've been finishing everything up. I miss them!!

hope you have a great weekend...
xoxo

me me me. ugh.

my editor called me today and said, "could you write a brief bio for your jacket copy and for the catalog?" sure! no problem! (I'm an eager beaver, you know.)

of course, little did I know that this is FAR FAR easier said than done!

here's the thing...I am a publicist by day. I make my living writing bios of people, among other things. And I can honestly say that I've never spent more than 30 minutes on one. Until I had to write my own.

For some reason, writing about myself is the hardest thing in the world for me. At first, I couldn't think of a single interesting thing to say--not ONE thing ANYONE would care to hear. Pathetic, right? And then, when I started to write information about my background, it just started to sound boastful and awful. Ugh.

Suffice to say, I hated every minute of it. But I did it... and here's what I ended up sending:

Sarah MacLean grew up in Rhode Island, where she spent much of her free time bemoaning the fact that she was more than a century too late for own Season. Her unabashed addiction to historical fiction helped to earn her a degree in European History from Smith College before she moved to New York City to pursue a career in publishing. After receiving a Masters in Education from Harvard University, Sarah returned to New York, where she lives with her husband, their dog, and a ridiculously large collection of romance novels. She is currently at work on her second novel.

Oy. So nervewracking!

xoxo

i’m done! now what?

I finished the first draft of The Season and turned it in to my editor last week...so exciting and nervewracking and terrifying and sad all at the same time! It's an amazing feeling to be done. I know I have loads of work still to come...it's by no means perfect...but it's a story, with an arc, with a beginning, middle and end, with characters I love and lines that make me laugh (and smooches that make me sigh).

I'M DONE!! And so ridiculously proud of it. Even though I know that what ends up bound and on sale will be vastly different and (knowing my editor) infinitely better, there's something about *this* version that I think will always be dear to me.

You'd think that once the book is written the hard part is over...but honestly? it just feels like it gets harder from here.

I woke up this morning with the first scene of the second book in my head. That's the REALLY scary part...now I'm starting to feel like writing is in my blood. like i couldn't stop, even if no one ever wanted to read this book and i never had another published.

As I wait for my editorial letter, which won't come until the beginning of January, I'm thinking about so much--what will the jacket look like? will we find someone who likes it enough to give us a blurb for the back cover? will anyone buy it? will readers fall in love with the characters the way I have? is this the beginning of an exciting chapter in my career or the end of a particularly remarkable chapter of my life?

It's out of my hands now...and whatever happens from here on out, I really don't have much control over it! Anyone who tells you they don't believe in fate has never written a book. That's for certain!

I'm going to try to blog more, now that I have much more free time...I'd love to hear your thoughts!

xoxox

things that suck...

here's something that really sucks. tobias funke's 100% good time family band kind of sucking.

when someone you don't trust lulls you into a false sense of security, and then reminds you that you're entirely too trusting in the first place. also, when other people in your life fail to see that behavior like this is real and unacceptable and thoroughly destructive. that sucks too. also, 97% heat and 80% humidity when the dog needs to go for a walk. that really sucks.

i just need to channel this into writing. take life and make it art. that's what they say, right? oooh...do i have fuel for this fire tonight!

austenesque sentences

so...as i've mentioned, the book is set in regency england and focuses on three best friends struggling to spread their wings at a time when girls were expected to sit quietly and sew well. 

it's probably no surprise that i'm an Austen fan. so, when i'm not writing, recently, i've been reading Lady Austen...and here's the thing that blows my mind--her ability to write sentences as a narrator that also sound like they're from the mind of the character. She knows her characters so well, she can speak as author and subject all at the same time. It's completely incredible.

Example, from Emma:

"Altogether Emma was quite convinced of Harriet Smith's being exactly the young friend she wanted -- exactly the something which her home required. Such a friend as Mrs Weston was out of the question. Two such could never be granted. Two such she did not want. It was quite a different sort of thing -- a sentiment distinct and independent."

Each clause in that phrase is laced with Emma's personality (a perfect blend of the sweet and the obnoxious), despite it being in the voice of the narrator. And Austen does this over and over in all of her books. 

Wow.

I'm in complete awe of her. Seriously.